Who's got next? Capping the 2014 NCAA basketball odds

It didn’t take long after Louisville cut down the nets for college basketball’s top talents to decide on their futures. The odds for the 2014 NCAAB championship have been up and down with plenty of big names making the move to the pros.

We take an early look at the top contenders, best value bets and some live long shots for next year’s NCAA tournament.

Favorite: Kentucky Wildcats (+300)

You didn’t think Kentucky would stay down, did you? If anything, a first-round NIT flop will motivate the remaining Wildcats and light a fire under head coach John Calipari, who once again welcomes the nation’s top recruiting class to Lexington. Three of the Top 5 recruits - Julius Randle, Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison – are already locked up and UK is on the short list for top-ranked recruit Andrew Wiggins.

Michigan State overachieved this past year and managed to survive one of the toughest seasons for the Big Ten – or any conference – in a long time, despite a long list of injuries. Head coach Tom Izzo is optimistic that all his eligible returnees will be back in East Lansing, including Gary Harris and Adreian Payne. Keith Appling is emerging as the floor leader Izzo needs him to be and you can never count out the Green and White come tournament time as long as Tommy is on the sidelines.

This long-shot wager depends solely on the decision by Wiggins in the coming week. The top overall recruit, according to Rivals.com, has strong family bonds to Florida State where his parents, Mitchell Wiggins a former NBA player and Marita Payne a former track and field star, attended university. The fact that FSU is on the short list with UNC, UK and Kansas says something. The Seminoles, who were slowed by key injuries this season, lose heart and soul Michael Snaer but are expected to bring back everyone else.

Other live long shots: Alabama (+10,000), Stanford (+10,000), Arizona State (+10,000)

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What you see is what you get each year from Pittsburgh, which builds through the draft, doesn’t sign a lot of free agents and basically comes at you. How much Ben Roethlisberger has left is a question asked every September given the number of hits he takes. The biggest change will be at defensive coordinator, where legend Dick Lebeau is gone – which may mean the LBs will be freer to attack the pocket.

The Vikes have Adrian Peterson back and things seem to have calmed down a bit in Minnesota. But then again, Mike Wallace has been on board for only a few months. Vikes are looking for a huge Year 2 improvement from Teddy Bridgewater and if they get it they can make things sticky in the North.

In 2014/15 the Steelers were 1-3 SU/ATS in the preseason and in 2013/14 they were 0-4 SU/ATS. After missing the playoffs in 2013/14, Pittsburgh returned last year only to lose 30-17 to the Ravens in the Wildcard round. Mike Tomlin has clearly not been very worried about winning in the preseason the last few years.

Last year the Vikes went 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS in the preseason, after going 1-3 SU/ATS in 2013/14 and 1-3 SU/ATS in 2012/13. For a team which is desperately trying to get back to the playoffs, the preseason suddenly becomes a lot more important.

There are many players on Minnesota which have something to prove, while Pittsburgh will surely be happy to just go through the motions and leave Canton without any significant injuries.

Minnesota would seem to be the more motivated team in this one, consider laying the short points.

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